Jennifer Atkinson Presents Climate Research at the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Jennifer Atkinson was a plenary speaker at the 2024 conference of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, where she presented her work Heeding the Impact of Climate Change on Youth Mental Health.

Climate change and the uncertainty of meaningful mitigation are now undeniable. However, the field of child and adolescent psychiatry has been slow to define its role in responding to this critical issue of our time. Climate change is already impacting the mental health of children, adolescents, and youth in the U.S. and across the world, affecting first and most severely youth who already live in precarious developmental conditions.

This plenary session took place on the opening night of the 2024 AACAP Conference and featured formal presentations from both Susan Clayton, PhD, Department Chair of Psychology at the College of Wooster, and Jennifer Atkinson, PhD, from the University of Washington Bothell and author of The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators. Dr. Clayton spoke to the ways climate change affects the psychological well-being of young people and their attitudes towards the future. She also outlined how society can support their psychological and behavioral health. Dr. Atkinson further illustrated the impact of climate change on youth mental health and shared strategies to bolster emotional resilience. Two members of the AACAP research committee, Anne Glowinski, MD, and Laura Levy, MD, MPH, co-chaired the session and led an interactive discussion linking this topic back to the field child and adolescent psychiatry.

Journal Citation https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2024.07.857